Ammo Lock In A Cycling Tank

[glennk]

Hi Guys I run a 30 - 40 gallon set up of filtered saltwater to keep my peeler crabs in. Usually I have the tank set up and cycled by the time I start getting the crabs, but with an early summer/warm spring I've got peelers and the tank must be at the amonia spike stage because I'm getting deaths (tanks been running 3 - 4 weeks (temps below 15oc for most of that time).

 

My question is would ammo lock be of any use to get me over the next few weeks ? It says it works in saltwater so there shouldnt be a problem there. If the answer is no could you please give reasons why ?

 

Not really wanting to get into daily water changes though.

 

Cheers - Glenn

[Guest Ferret1959]

Sorry but I'm a freshwater fishkeeper but I'll kept an eye on this thread.

I find anything on fishkeeping an interesting read.

[Jaffa]

Hi Glenn,

 

Would be worth getting a test kit as it cuts out a lot of the guesswork and assumptions.

 

If it is an Ammonia problem then Ammolock will work in saltwater.

 

A better alternative for you may be to get a pile of nice "healthy looking" low tide rock and put the flow from a powerhead across it ; instant biological filter

 

Chris

[Alan Hammond]

I have tried Ammo Lock and other similar products in fresh water tropical tanks in the past and I have to admit that I have never been very impressed with them. The only way to get a tank working properly is as Jaffa says with a decent bio filter. But as a first step I would test the water to find out what is wrong with it. The packets of strips that do several different tests at once are only about six pounds and if not all that accurate are at least a good and quick indicator of any problems.

[Steve Walker]

My concern would be that by using something to remove free ammonia, your tank will never cycle. Fine if you keep using the ammo lock, but...

[Ken Davison South Wales]

What sort of filter do you have Glen?

 

I am not happy about ammo-lock myself, don't use it on any of my vats.

 

If your using a pump invest a few £s in a coldwater roof tank or simular as big a volume as you can get equal to or more if possible than your tank size, pump into tank part filled with bio-material low water rock as suggested and gravity back into stock tank, key to marines is volume of water in circulation, it gives a wider envelope to work with when stocking tank quickly.

 

Plus as suggested a cheap test kit.

Edited April 25, 2007 by Ken Davison South Wales

[glennk]

Cheers Guys,

 

I got a similar product to ammo lock from interpet and it was suitable for saltwater and says its ok in a cycling tank. What Ive also done is got some rock from low water and also some cockle and mussel shells from the place where the longliners used to dump their scaned mussel shells (they have been there many years and are only exposed out the water on big spring tides). Ive put them in the filter and some in the tank.

 

Hopefully this will help.

 

I tried a test kit a few years ago but it said it was inacurate on water temps below 20 oC so I never used it again as the tank is outside in the shed.

 

I had a similar problem to this last year and it righted itself after about 3 weeks. Other years I must have set up the tank earlier because I never had the trouble before that.

 

Cheers Glenn

[glennk]

Just a quick update.

 

I used the amonia remover the one time and put shells and rock from low tide inside the filter. Touch wood all is well now. All inhabitants look healthy and no more deaths.

 

Thanks to you all for your input.

 

Cheers - Glenn